Remember that time I had a mustard tasting party? Only 18 months ago, or so… I don’t think I have bought a new mustard since and we are down to the bare minimum, guys. Depending on what I find first (mustard or mustard seeds), I may try my hand at homemade mustard. I want to try Miyoko’s recipe for Ale and Brown Sugar Mustard but don’t want it to taste like beer. If you make it (or can recommend other homemade mustard recipes), please let me know. I will await your assessment in 4 weeks. 😉

In the meantime, onwards with the potato salads. A perfect side for your summer meals.

Another winner of potato salads, this is for serious mustard fans. Rob preferred the Creamy Lemon-Dill Roasted Potato Salad but I really can’t pick a favourite, especially considering the Smoked Paprika Roasted Potato Salad. This salad is definitely heavy on the mustard, so pick a good one. The vibrant yellow is courtesy of a dash of turmeric and the dressing is more complex with the addition of Old Bay. A fun twist for yet another non-mayo potato salad. Enjoy!

As the hot summer persists, let us marry the perfect summer eats. BBQ and salads. And for those without a BBQ, have no fear, this one is for you.

No BBQ needed, the BBQ flavour is completely from the roasted chickpeas. A bit more complex than my bacon-flavoured chickpea croutons, but definitely not any harder than pulling out a few more bottles, these roasted chickpeas are awesome. Smoky, savoury and delicious. You could just eat them with your hand (totally guilty) or add them to a salad for a more complete meal. Here I paired it with salad with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, purple cabbage, shredded carrots and avocado with a splash of lemon juice. Mix it all together for a fabulous meal.

I am always anxious of leafing through cookbooks marked with words such as ‘diet’, ‘detox’, or the like, but I have no reservations about this cookbook. Somer’s recipes are all gluten-free, plant-based vegan recipes and also, to the astute eye, also free of oil and refined sugars. (The tip-off are the lack of oil in the soups and stews, as I am accustomed to sautéing my onions in oil). Otherwise, the recipes are filled with an abundance of vegetables for creative meals that are relatively easy to make, too.

The recipes span the entire day (breakfast to lunch to dinner including snacks) because there are meal plans that span 28-days (they can be found here if you want a preview). She includes recipes for 26 salads and dressing. The Lentil taco salad was fabulous (even without the roasted red pepper dressing) and her Ultimate Lentil Salad reminds me of my own 11-Spice Lentil Salad with Capers and Currants (and always a hit). Her soups are equally enticing, with meal-type soups like Quinoa Minestrone and her Smoky Split Pea Soup. Others are more vegetable-based which are more suitable as appetizer.

I enjoyed her Moroccan Lentil Soup even though I substituted a handful of fresh dill for the parsley/cilantro. She also has a main dish section with recipes I have been eyeing, such as Chiles Rellenos Casserole Bake with Smoky Chipotle Enchilada Sauce and Homestyle Mexican Casserole. Green smoothies, juices, snacks, dips and desserts round out the cookbook to keep you full throughout the day.

I remember when cookbooks were mostly text, but it is so nice to see excellent photography. Ann Oliverio photographed most of the recipes and they are a treat throughout the cookbook. Just look at the delicious cover photography highlighting the Funeral Potatoes. A funeral for your fat?

Of note, while this is a diet based on vegan abundance, Somer’s narrative highlights the potential ways to expedite weight loss. Some people may not like this tone and I suggest simply enjoying the recipes. Not a fan of stevia? (Me, neither). Simply substitute dates instead for the smoothies or all coconut sugar in other desserts. Or in my case, add some beans to the vegetable-centric meals. In all, the recipes look great and only on closer inspection do they jump out as diet food.

Want your own copy?

Thankfully, the publisher allowed me to giveaway the cookbook to a reader living in the US. To be entered in the random draw for the book, please leave a comment below telling me what you like to eat in abundance. The winner will be selected at random on August 7, 2015. Good luck!

When we first moved in our new home, I was a little sad about the natural light situation. It did not take me long to figure out that the south-facing part of our home was in the shade after I returned home from work. For the last 3 years, in 3 different homes, the south-facing window was the source of my foodie photographs.

While I am still trying to perfect my new photography zone, the backyard shade has a different utility: shade for our backyard patio. A welcome respite from the blazing summer sun, it almost behooves us to only invite people over for evening BBQs. And eat our dinner outside, as well.

Totally working on that.

This weekend was especially hot and totally ice cream weather. I wanted ice cream and I wanted it now, so I finally made Gena’s lovely blueberry ginger ice cream. I love blueberries and I love ginger, and never would have thought to combine them. It was marvellous. The classic banana soft-serve ice cream is even creamier with cashew cream and a gorgeous purple hue from frozen blueberries (wild blueberries for the best flavour). I made this in my vitamix and was too impatient to wait for the cashews to be completely blended so they added little bits to the creamy base. Fresh blueberries were a good textural foil. In any case, this is highly recommended. Soak the cashews if you have enough forethought for a creamier base.

Even though we have had the BBQ on in full force since it arrived, it is (mostly) limited to the weekends. However, I love bulk cooking on the weekends, so we’re trying to keep things simple mid-week.

Here I multipurposed leftover portobello carpaccio (just as good with a longer marinade) into a glorious summer salad with strawberries, fresh (not grilled) tofu, all over a bed of baby spinach, doused with a balsamic dressing.

Jessicaasked about mosto cotto in my previous posts. It is a sweet balsamic reduction and a simple 1-ingredient dressing. A balsamic vinaigrette could easily be substituted, so I decided to make my own and use it all week. I made a glorious full cup to share with Rob.

Except the world was against me, and I tipped 75% of my dressing. Onto my shorts, onto my slippers and behind my stove. I am not sure if bird poop or balsamic vinegar makes a worse stain, but I quickly disrobed and cleaned my shorts and next my slippers. My black shorts fared better than my slippers which may now look a bit more brown than white. Oops….

Anyways, the salad was fabulous. I hadn’t planned to share it but the mushrooms added a wonderful earthy contrast next to the sweet strawberries and savoury balsamic vinaigrette. Delicious. Enjoy!

This may very well turn out to be the summer of potatoes and mushrooms. While not everyone likes the mayo-heavy potato salads, everyone seems to like the non-mayo salads from this summer so far.

Rob said this was his favourite potato salad yet.

His Polish roots may be particularly partial to fresh dill.

The dressing is a creamy, but not heavy, lemon-tahini sauce with a touch of mustard which I tossed with salt-and-pepper roasted potatoes and fresh dill. The recipe makes a lot of dressing, which was great throughout the week to dress up some of the leftover grilled vegetables. The dressing was also great when I added in some extra chickpeas.

My natural instinct when I hear BBQ is to buy portobello mushrooms. As I said, I love salads and dishes I can prepare in advance, and the Portobello Carpaccio in But I Could Never Go Vegansounded perfect.

Similar, but not identical to my grilled balsamic portobellos, these portobello mushrooms are marinated and roasted in the oven. The marinade is Italian-inspired with dried herbs and a red wine vinaigrette. I suppose the barbecue could work, too, but the barbecue was for later in the day. Once the mushrooms were cool, you slice them super thin (and had I known what on a bias meant, I would have done more of a diagonal to the horizontal plane). Then I popped them in the fridge for a few hours prior to serving. A sprinkle of capers and rosemary finished this as a really fun appetizer, with portobello mushrooms masquerading as rare meat.

Because mushrooms alone do not make a meal, and I had used up most of my culinary energies, we opted for something so simple, I was worried it might not work.

I had seen Tiffany’s post about tofu cheeseburgers where she simply grilled slabs of tofu and called it a burger. She isn’t even vegan and loved it. I was intrigued so we tried something similar.

We cut up a package of super firm tofu into four slices, cut longitudinally, and grilled it. Nothing added, not even salt and pepper. Rob said it stuck a bit on the grill but otherwise it was perfect. Slightly smoky and a blank canvas to work nicely against the vibrant portobello carpaccio.

Next time, we might try oiling the grills or brushing the tofu with some oil before placing it on the grill.

I don’t know about you guys, but where I am, it is H.O.T. We’ve done pretty well for not using the air conditioner during the days but we closed our windows and turned it on yesterday. To think all my friends in Houston are always 10 degrees hotter (and humid) and positively melting. That is possibly the one thing I do not envy because we loved living in Houston.

Here is a fun pasta dish which adds layers of veggies to your meal. Carrots and cucumber are spiralized into thin noodle shapes and thinly sliced red peppers add some crunch, too. The maple sweetened tofu is unique with a salty/peppery bight and makes this a complete meal. Avocado rounds this out as a fabulous fat and feast for your eyes.

As Rob and I hone our BBQ hosting skills, we have divvied up the work. Rob tends to the BBQ and I work on the sides. I have never liked the stress of cooking while guests are over so I have gravitated to the make-ahead salads. And guys, this potato salad is wicked awesome. Seriously.

I took some small potatoes and roasted them with paprika (the regular stuff works – I was all out of the smoked variety) along with dried tarragon, onion and garlic granules. When they came out of the oven, Rob and I had to peel ourselves from the pan. We could have eaten the whole batch together before our guests had arrived.

In the back of my mind, I was worried about ruining the most perfect roasted potatoes by adding more dressing, but I continued with the potato salad recipe which called for a white balsamic dressing with a touch of fresh dill and marjoram. Only a touch because my plants were just seedlings. I tasted again. A bit hesitant. Fabulous. No need to worry, I stashed it in the fridge to marinade even longer. We all loved it.

At the heart of the book are recipes for kitchen staples. Milk substitutes and vegan butter (different than Miyoko’s homemade vegan butter). There are countless recipes for different kinds of cheese (American Cheese, Cheese Balls, Chia Seed Cream Cheese) and even how to replace eggs in different scenarios

They explain how to replace eggs while in baking versus in a dish such as shakshouka, where the eggs are prime and centre, as well as in baking. Meat substitutes, including chicken broth powder, are included.

However, in addition to the staples, there are applications of the recipes. There are examples of how to veganized a recipe, comprehensive lists with substitutions but also recipes that have taken the guess work out of it for you. Personally, I prefer recipes that do not try to mimic dairy/meat recipes which is why I gravitated to this potato salad. Mayo-free, it is perfect just the way it is, without any substitutes at all.

Thankfully, the publisher allowed me to giveaway the cookbook to a reader living in the US or Canada. To be entered in the random draw for the book, please leave a comment below telling me what you find the hardest to make vegan. The winner will be selected at random on July 20, 2015. Good luck!

If you are interested in the quickest of complete meals, this is what I ate most of last week after our move.

We found a nearby restaurant that makes its own homemade fresh tofu. Tofu made without any preservatives, they warned us it would spoil faster than commercial tofu. We got some for take-away and quickly ate through it.

I thought I knew a lot about tofu but this was different. Airy and light. (Despite my description, this is not silken tofu since they sell that too and I got the regular fresh tofu). Because it was so fresh, it was silky smooth and I did not feel the need to do anything to it. No marinade, no baking, no frying, simply nothing.

It was a perfect addition to a quick salad. I added it to some other local specialties (fresh strawberries!) and made it into a simple salad after biking home from work. Pictured here with mixed greens and cucumber with a drizzle of mosto cotto, with a nod to my previous Vegan Green Power Bowl.

Do you ever eat plain tofu? Ie, straight from the package? If so, what is your favourite way to eat it?

It has been a week in the new house and we’ve given our new barbecue a quick initiation.

Part of the beauty of the new grill is that meals are simpler. Fresh vegetables with a touch of oil, salt and pepper along with a veggie burger. It still hasn’t stopped me from pinning more creative recipes (follow my vegan BBQ pinterest board here).

These BBQ lentils are from my pre-BBQ days and a fun way to switch up your BBQ protein if you are tired of veggie burgers. While you could eat these as a side, I opted to construct a sandwich, reminiscent of Sloppy Joes but with a BBQ flavour. I topped it with my carrot-sriracha coleslaw for an easy topping.

Do you have any favourite recipes for the BBQ? I highly recommend these balsamic roasted portobellos which have been my go-to option whenever I had access to a grill in the past. I am also curious which brand of veggie burgers is your favourite. There are so many options. The one I have liked so far has been “Veg Out” Quarter Pounder. Oddly enough, I can’t even find a link with it on the google interwebs to share my find with you.

Our house is feeling settled awfully quickly. With a lot more space than our former abode, we have embraced my parent’s suggestion to keep the boxes still to be unpacked out of sight. We certainly still have boxes to unpack, but the essentials are out and the unpacked boxes don’t bother me while they are out of sight.

With a presentable main floor and a new barbecue, we celebrated the midweek Canada Day with some friends and a simple meal. I can already tell the barbecue will be on in full force this summer. It is never too late to try out new salads and this was a fun spin on traditional coleslaw. First of all, I have massaged kale but never cabbage and carrots. The simple dressing is massaged to wilt the veggies and left to marinate in the fridge for optimal flavour. A dash of sriracha makes this slightly different and I suggest tasting it prior to serving, as the spice level dissipated while it mellowed in the fridge.